Three Consecutive Nights of TV Fights

Golden Boy Promotions returns to the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 14, with an eight-fight card. The end of the year fight card features Golden Boy Promotions prospects that mostly train in the Riverside County area. ESPN will televise.

The card lost luster on Wednesday afternoon when undefeated super bantamweight Diego De La Hoya missed weight and his 10-round match with Jose Salgado was scratched. The bout between De La Hoya (20-0, 9 KOs) and Cozumel, Mexico’s Jose Salgado (35-4-2, 28 KOs) was slated to be the main event.

The semi-main gets bumped up the ladder. It features Carlos Morales (16-2-3) who is matched against Dardan Zenunaj (14-3) of Kosovo who now fights out of Los Angeles. It’s a curious match with the winner getting the vacant NABA super featherweight title. Morales (pictured on the left) had won 16 straight prior to losing his last fight on points to future WBA world 130-pound champion Alberto Machado in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Other Riverside Guys

Joshua Franco and Jonathan Navarro who train in Riverside with Robert Garcia are both ending the year against solid competition.

Franco (12-0, 6 KOs), who hails from San Antonio, has a Frozen Bouncy Castle fight against Carlos Maldonado (9-1, 7 KOs) who has six consecutive knockouts but against meager competition. Franco seldom has easy fights but the bantamweight knows how to figure things out.

Navarro (11-0, 6 KOs), lives in East L.A. and also trains in Riverside. He faces Nelson Lara (17-8-4, 9 KOs) of Costa Rica in a super lightweight clash. It’s a tough match for Navarro a power hitting fighter by nature. Lara has fought against tough competition including Fidel Maldonado and Keandre Gibson.

Marlen

 Former 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Marlen Esparza (3-0) is scheduled to fight Karla Valenzuela (3-16-3) in a flyweight bout. Esparza has not had luck in entering the boxing ring with fights dropping out for one reason or another. She is anxious to see action and hopefully fans get to see her actually fight. Mexico’s Valenzuela was supposedly set to fight Esparza months ago but problems arose.

Friday

A high-powered fight card takes place Friday night with John Molina Jr. (29-7) facing off against Ivan Redkach (20-3-1) in a 10 round super lightweight clash. The main portion of the TBG fight card will be televised by Fox Sports 1.

Also on the card is former world champion Jessie Vargas (27-2) pitted against Aaron Herrera (33-7-1) in a 10 round welterweight contest. Others on the card are Jamal James, Diego Chaves, Karlos Balderas, Jose Balderas and many others. The card takes place at the Pioneer Event Center in Lancaster, Calif.

Saturday

The WBO middleweight titlist Billy Joe Saunders (25-0, 12 KOs) defends against Canada’s knockout punching David Lemieux (38-3, 33 KOs) on Saturday in Quebec, Canada. HBO will televise several of the Golden Boy Promotions fights. The winner possibly gets the winner between Gennady Golovkin and Saul Alvarez if they should decide on a rematch date.

Antoine Douglas (22-1-1, 16 KOs) clashes with Gary O’Sullivan (26-2, 18 KOs) in a companion middleweight match set for 10 rounds. A regional WBO title is the prize.

The third part of the triple-header features Cletus “The Hebrew Hammer” Seldin (21-0, 17 KOs) against Yves Ulysse Jr. (14-1, 9 KOs) in a 10 round super lightweight clash.

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